How important are graphics to you? Regardless of who wins in the endless ‘Graphics VS Gameplay’ argument, when you buy a new game, especially a direct sequel to a previous game, you have certain expectations of what that game should offer.

Innovation in gameplay, new features, new weapons, new maps, and of course, a leap in visual fidelity.

I’ve shown you some of the new innovations in gameplay (like the Customizable Killstreak Rewards video) and of course new weapons, perks, and levels within those videos; with more to come as we get closer to launch. Right now though, I wanted to take a look at the visual enhancements we’ve made to Modern Warfare 2.

A major component in the new engine tech that has the greatest impact on these enhancements is our new hi-res Texture Streaming functionality. Texture streaming allows our designers the freedom to make much larger environments, like the scene below, while also increasing the amount of detail on the characters, and environments in the vicinity of the player.

Take this screenshot that we released at GamesCom this week for example. Enlarge the screenshots to really see what I’m talking about here.

You can see how this new feature allows to us to further push the amount of detail we can add to our characters, their gear, and especially the environment thanks to the memory allotment improvements it provides. Allowing more space for weather effects, dynamic destructible objects, and other details that are just as crucial to the total immersion of the game.